Weekly Wrap Up 2/24/17

I had to include this picture
 because Wishbone was my first
 introduction to the story of
Oliver Twist.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
It has been years since I have read a Dickens novel. Years in this case is at least 15, very possibly 20. For almost as many years I have had intentions of reading more Dickens novels. This year might have been another of those years of intending to, but never actually reading one, until the advent of the reading buddy. I have several book friends but now, one of my book friends has officially become my reading buddy, meaning we are attempting to conquer some of those books that we intend to read but have a tough time actually getting around to. We don't actually read the book together but we stay on a set schedule, agreeing how many chapters we will read in a week. This was the first book we have tried and it was a great success. We read 100 pages per week so it didn't really interfere with our other reading and we were able to finish Oliver Twist in four weeks. Go us!!! I highly recommend this system, accountability is a great thing.

It was very interesting to read this book after having recently reread Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I have decided that Charles Dickens was the Lemony Snicket of his time. There is so much sarcasm and dark humor in this book and so many jokes that I think many people would totally miss. There are colorful, unique, and often unbelievable characters (also similar to Snicket). I (unsurprisingly) loved this book. Everyone (myself included) should read more Dickens!

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was one of my favorite authors as a kid. (Yes, I have a love of dark children's books.) The last few months I have been trying to track down a copy of this book. I remembered nothing about it other than it had a giraffe (obviously). I was finally successful in obtaining a copy and I read it in about 30 minutes. It's only about 70 pages and most of those pages have pictures. It is a very sweet and whimsical story about a giraffe, a pelican, a monkey who open a window washing business, befriend a boy named Billy, and, of course, save the day in the end.